Representation of Women in Film

Representation of Women in Film

As our film opening features a female protagonist we thought it was important to research the representation of women, both progressive and regressive, in the wider film industry.  This will help us inform the way in which we present our protagonist, working to make her as complex and realistic as possible in a 2 minute clip.

Snow White - 1937

Directors: David Hand, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen, Willian Cottrell, Perce Pearce

Snow White was the first ever feature-length film from the animation juggernaut, Disney, and despite being 80 years old is still very influential in the children's film market.   Due to its age 'Snow White' gives a very regressive and dated representation of women.  Snow White spends the majority of the film cooking, cleaning and singing with small woodland creatures and waits for a Prince to come and save her.  However, 'Snow White' does have a female antagonist, an idea with which even modern films can struggle.  Although this presence of  a female antagonist does subvert the female stereotype of being caring and submissive, the Wicked Witch is motivated by her desire to be "the fairest of them all" with her vanity conforming to the regressive stereotypes of women being narcissistic and superficial.

Although Snow White doesn't link directly to our film opening idea it does however give us some pretty basic guidelines of what not to do.  We will use Snow White in order to ensure that we give our protagonist depth and emotional complexity, as opposed to the shallow female characters of this film.

The Colour Purple - 1985

Director: Steven Spielberg

'The Colour Purple' presents a vast spectrum of strong female characters all enduring hardships at the hands of the men around them.  The films protagonist, Celie, has been forced into submission through years of abuse at the hand of her father and later her husband.  However, through the course of the film, with the help of her friend Shug, Celie slowly becomes more assertive, harnessing all the hurt and pain she has been forced to endure and turning it into strength.  'The Colour Purple' features many dynamic female characters each with their own strengths, Celie's friend Shug is a promiscuous woman who uses her sexuality in order to bend men to her will, then using this power in order to help oppressed women with no way of helping themselves and Celie's step daughter-in-law Sofia is a strong woman unafraid to speak her mind and stand-up to those who try trample over her.  Although the characters' pursuits in the film end in varying degrees of success the film ultimately ends on a message of female solidarity with the film closing on at Celie's house, inherited from her late father, a scene filled with women who love one another and understand the problems the others have had with men.

'The Colour Purple' is probably the most relevant to our film with our protagonist being in a very similar position to that of Celie at the beginning of the film, abused into mental illness.  We will use the silent strength which Celie exhibits throughout the film, seemingly unaffected by the suffering she endures and going on in-spite of it all, to inform the representation our our film's protagonist.

The Breakfast Club - 1985

Director: John Hughes

Despite being a film based upon breaking social stereotypes and expectations, 'The Breakfast Club''s representation of gender is still very regressive.  Within the film each character is defined by one characteristic - 'the criminal', 'the athlete', 'the basket case', 'the princess' and 'the brain' - with each characteristic being there for the film to challenge and warp.  However, the allocation of each characteristic very restricting, especially in terms of gender, the male characters are granted the labels of 'criminal', 'athlete' and 'brain' whilst the females are made a 'princess' and 'basket case'.  These titles work to perpetuate the traditional gender stereotypes of men being strong and assured while women are much weaker.  Claire Standish, 'the princess', represents femininity in 'The Breakfast Club' while Allison Reynolds, 'the basket case', represents the opposite.  Throughout the film Reynolds is depicted to be strange for her subversion from the typical female role suggesting an expectation for women to fulfill a traditional feminine role.  This is then furthered at the end of the film when Standish gives Reynolds a makeover saying she just needs to take the "black shit" off her face.  After her make over Reynolds is deemed to be significantly prettier implying that women, unlike men, must fit a specific mold to be acceptable in society.

'The Breakfast Club' has taught us not to conform to gender stereotypes too religiously as it can work to take away from your characters rather than add to them.  We will dress our protagonist in fairly gender neutral clothes which suit her character more than her gender.

Kill Bill Volume 1 - 2003

Director: Quentin Tarantino

As a trained assassin, carefully ticking names off a "death list" who also has the ability to single-handedly take-on and defeat an army of 88 Japanese warriors, The Bride's position as a powerful female protagonist is unquestionable,  However, this is not where her true strength lies.  'Kill Bill''s events begin with The Bride in a coma, from which she wakes up unable to walk.  However, she is determined and, after dragging herself to a car of which she had previously stolen the keys, motivates herself back into shape with the line "first thing first wiggle your big toe", before heading off to tick the first name off of her "list".  Although it is quickly established that The Bride is an experienced assassin with the ability to kill who ever she needs, it is not until later in the film that the audience realizes her true strength and complexity.  It becomes apparent that The Bride does not seek revenge on Bill, the one who put her in a coma, because he tried to kill her, but rather, because he 'killed' her unborn child.  These maternal incentives granted to the bride represent a subversion of the traditional attitudes to 'feminine emotions'.  Such emotions would often be perceived to cause weakness upon a woman, making them irrational and/or vulnerable, however in The Bride the grief of a lost child acts as motivation allowing her to push herself beyond usual constraints and kill any and all standing in the way of her revenge.


Although 'Kill Bill' does not relate directly to our film opening, we can use the character of The Bride to influence the portrayal of our female protagonist.  Making us think about a back story for our character and hopefully preventing us from underestimating her and what she can cope with, even if it is in a two minute long film opening.

Arrival - 2016

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Within 'Arrival' the protagonist, Louise, is allowed to exhibit strength in her own, very quiet, feminine manner.  Contrasting with many other modern female protagonists, whose strengths lie in the highly masculine arts of fighting and battle, Louise's strength is rooted in her intellect and compassionate nature. Whilst working on an army camp, surrounded by men, Louise's gentle empathy and ability to listen to and rationalize with other beings proves her biggest asset, allowing her to slowly but surely do her job whilst the male officers continually mess up trying to rush ahead with their plans.  Louise is also a complex character, not defined by her knowledge or gender, she is faulted and scared whilst also making the single bravest choice of any character in the film.

Arrival is an excellent example of depth of character.  Louise is an intricate, multifaceted and realistic character who we can use as inspiration when creating our own female protagonist.